Home > Patrick Henry College Takes First Place in Nationwide Debate Tournaments

Small Virginia College Triumphs over Big Name Competitors

November 3rd, 2003

CONTACT: Craig Smith (540) 338-8703

Purcellville, VA— Patrick Henry College (PHC) recently won first place trophies from two intercollegiate debate tournaments sponsored by the National Parliamentary Debate Association (NPDA) and the National Educational Debate Association (NEDA). The victories establish another success for PHC, a college of only 242 students that is able to produce talent sufficient to compete nationally and win.

"It is remarkable what our students have accomplished through debate," said Patrick Henry College President Mike Farris. "You'd think we were a college of 5,000 students founded 100 years ago."

Just four years old, Patrick Henry is a Christian liberal arts college located in Purcellville, Virginia, 50 miles west of Washington, D.C. Known for attracting high academic achievers, the College's 2003 freshman class averaged 1313 on the SAT, putting PHC on par with the best liberal arts colleges in America.

The college's mission is to train Christian men and women who will lead the nation and shape the culture with timeless biblical values and fidelity to the spirit of the American founding.

NPDA is one of the largest college debate leagues in the nation with a membership of about 200 colleges and universities, including Harvard, Stanford, University of Pennsylvania, Columbia, and University of California (Berkley). PHC won the first place speaker trophy in the senior division and first place team trophy in the novice division, beating schools such as Purdue, University of South Carolina, Ball State and Notre Dame. Nearly 50 teams competed.

In the NEDA tournament, PHC teams won first, second and semi-final trophies in the open division as well as the first place speaker trophy. Patrick Henry also won first place speaker and first place team trophies in the novice division and first and second place trophies in the singles competition.